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Posted on: December, 13 2017 11:12 pm

Category Archives: Values

How to Scale Management and Leadership in Your Company

We just finished a fun project with a client creating a Management and Leadership Style Guide.

This is a small business that’s making its way to midsize. They have very clear vision, revenue, creative, talent, and financial goals.

Like many other businesses that are working to scale, they use a younger, less-experienced workforce. Their talent is straight out of school or has just a few years of experience. Most have never been managers. The partners of this company wanted to guide the development of their new managers in a way that’s meaningful both to them and to the staff they oversee.

We interviewed partners and senior management to understand what was important to the company and how they want new managers to lead. We then used what we had learned to write the style guide, which was given to all new and existing managers.

This is what the CEO had to say about the experience of creating the style guide and the impact it has had on the company:

Our business is growing rapidly, and culture is at the core of what we’re all about. How to keep that culture while bringing in new people is a question that keeps us up at night. We realized this year that much of how we manage and engage with our people and our work was not scalable.

We worked with The Creative Executive to formalize our “rules of engagement” – our Work Philosophy – so that no matter how we grow or where we work everyone knows what’s expected of them.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. And I’m getting a bit more shut-eye.

If your business could benefit from its own Management and Leadership Style Guide, here are some key areas to include:

High Level:

Vision of the future (for business)

Values

Culture priorities

Employee personas

Employee responsibilities

Results created when all of the above areas are optimized

Day-to-Day Tactics:

How to manage

How to onboard

How to develop

Hiring an outside consultant to do this work can be beyond helpful. We can help you see how your goals, best practices, and tactics all tie together and then incorporate them all into one document for your managers.

Mid-Career Check-in: How to Figure Out Your Next Steps

Creative work by its very nature is usually unorganized, passionate, and messy; navigating the field and managing creative people with professionalism takes thoughtful nurturing not required in other areas of business. The Creative Executive Method understands that and helps you provide structure and leadership without disrupting the flow and dynamism that’s key in a creative environment.

Scot, Creative Director, Dealertrack

I’ve learned much about myself as a leader, how I lead my team effectively and ineffectively. The team response has been positive to the new conversations we are having.

Jeff, Managing Director/Recruitment & Admissions, West Region, CITY YEAR

My brain actually thinks differently since I’ve taken The Creative Executive Method. The way I operate on a day-to-day basis, the way I speak, and the way I listen have changed for the better. I feel I developed a stronger ability to think more critically when in a direct leadership or management situation. As a result, I’m a more effective producer, a more open-minded manager, and a much more intuitive leader.

VICKI, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Often I am moving too fast and don’t take the time to think about my style, my impact, and my team’s impact. I realized that taking the time to be mindful about the challenges we discussed, in particular around teams, is really important for me and for the success of my business.

KIMBERLY, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL BRAND, AMD

If you want a course that takes the blurry edges of your career and pulls them into focus, I recommend The Creative Executive Method.

EVA, Group CREATIVE DIRECTOR, RAZORFISH

We love working with Lauren. We have used her at our annual retreat for two years now, and each time we have walked away with a clearer, cleaner vision of our firm, ourselves, and where we want to go next. She does a great job setting the tone for the day and keeping everyone on track. Having her facilitate allows the leadership team participate in meaningful discussions alongside everyone else. We couldn’t recommend her more.

Co-Founder, Public Relations Firm

I felt really frustrated, having been in advertising for a crazy long time, thinking it was too late to change. But we figured something out. Something great. And now I’m creatively inspired again.

Creative, Wieden & Kennedy

We tasked Jen with helping to coach our Atlanta Sales and Strategy teams on leadership, growth, and representing yourself. She had such amazing energy and kept the team engaged through the new insights and strategies she shared, as well as her interactive approach. The team walked away energized and inspired to take the next steps in driving their careers forward.

Robin Wheeler, Director of Sales, Twitter

The more business we won and the bigger projects we were given, the less control I had of my time. Through working with Jen, I made the time to not only prioritize what I really wanted to accomplish both professionally and personally, but to establish what I expected from my staff. It allowed them to grow and take ownership of tasks and let me get back to working within my skill set. It also let me keep up with some personal goals that had fallen into the background. Jen’s coaching helped Wexley grow by helping me improve my overall productivity.

I found myself thrown into the deep end, having to take charge of a team of 10 overnight. Jen helped me find my footing as a manager and gave me the confidence and skills to grow a successful, motivated team.

Planning Director, TBWA

Working with Jen has been the best investment of the latter half of my 20-year career. I was stuck in my own narrative, and she helped me see the possibilities in a different, authentic, and valuable way.

Kelly Hemmeline, Director, Dell

I’m infusing more fun, energy, and creativity into team meetings as well as spending more time 1:1 with my team members. We are implementing this change across the company, and I am in the process of working with other executives at the company to do the same with their teams.